Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When i first started gardening, i though i had to do it all..." (more)
Key Phrases: lasagna bed, lasagna garden, lasagna method, Pat's Picks, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This intriguingly titled book?which has nothing to do with pasta and everything to do with layering?serves up a time-saving approach to gardening that will come as welcome news to the overworked and the horticulturally challenged. Lanza exhorts readers to build soil up, "instead of digging down," by simply layering organic materials onto a prospective garden site and close-planting directly into it. Together with generous mulching, she contends, this process eliminates some of gardening's more labor-intensive chores?tilling, double-digging, weeding and frequent watering. After outlining her basic premise, Lanza zeroes in on the specific areas of interest, including vegetables, herbs, berries and flowers, providing an abundance of detail on a wide selection of planting materials. Although this method of creating instant raised beds is not new, Lanza has refined it into a step-by-step procedure that she conveys with simplicity and clarity, and her chatty, first-person narrative makes the text a pleasure to read. Of particular interest to fledgling gardeners, this title will also appeal to those looking for new ways to streamline the demands of their favorite pastime.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Pat Lanza is a genius! It's a pleasure to find a garden writer like Pat who speaks from experience and who shares practical information in clear, understandable language. Her no-till, no-dig method will save many aching backs, and the tips and time-savers she sprinkles throughout Lasagna Gardening are sure to please gardeners of all skill levels."--Walter Chandoha, garden photographer and author of The Literary Gardener

"I absolutely recommend Lasagna Gardening for every gardener."--Ralph Snodsmith, host of Garden Hotline, WOR radio network

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Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (November 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875969623
• ISBN-13: 978-0875969626
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,477 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous technique for productive, organic gardens, February 9, 2004

By	A. Ryan "Merribelle" (Westminster, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I believe that when it comes to books presenting new ways of doing anything, the only testimony that counts is that which comes from firsthand experience. Well folks, I'm here to tell you after a year of gardening the lasagna way that my firsthand experience shows this book is one of the wisest investments any gardener can make. Let me tell you about my 2003 garden.

First, a short outline of lasagna gardening technique: soak b&w newspapers in water, then overlap sections in a single layer directly on top of premarked sod area. This smothers the weeds/grass underneath. Then put a 4 inch layer of moistened peat moss over that, followed by a moist layer of organic shredded green material, followed by another layer of peat moss, followed by a layer of moist compost or yard waste, repeat the peat moss/organic matter pattern until your bed is built up to at least 18 inches high. Finish with compost on top, then either let it break down for a few months for certain crops or plant seeds and transplants directly into the matrix by pushing aside layers and inserting. As the layers break down, the earthworms will be eating the sod and breaking up the newspapers, mixing the layers together for you. The final result is an organic, self-tilled soil that's rich and free of disease and weed seeds. It's so simple.

Note: the author did neglect to mention the importance of wetting down each layer as you build the beds. I only figured this out because I had made compost before and I knew you needed moist materials for it to work.

In late fall of 2002 I built a 5 foot by 25 foot border bed for perennial flowers the lasagna way after reading Patricia Lanza's book. It sounded almost too good to be true - no digging, no tilling, no weeding? What was the catch, I asked myself. When I was done I planted perennials taken from four inch pots, watered them in, and left them for the winter rains to take care of (we can do that in So. Cal, hee hee). They settled in nicely and grew steadily, but it was cool weather so the roots were doing most of the growth at that time. A few months later as top growth appeared I was encouraged to build more lasagna beds in my vegetable garden - two 5 by 5 raised beds to go with my other two traditionally tilled raised beds (those were a lot of work, double digging, sifting rocks, mixing compost, etc. I wish now that I had known about the lasagna method a few years ago!). After about two hour's work I was done layering my new vegetable beds and watered them down to compost a little. In late May, I transplanted sweet peppers and basil starts to one lasagna bed and planted cantaloupes and flowers in the other.

Those two lasagna beds outperformed the traditional beds in every way. That summer I harvested more sweet peppers than ever before. It was my first try growing cantaloupes, so I have no previous crops to compare, but they did well and I harvested quite a few delicious, sun-sweetened cantaloupes from that bed. Meanwhile the flowers seemed to love the soil in my perennial bed, and they grew to huge proportions, filling in the space nicely by season's end. As promised, there was little watering and even less weeding. As a bonus, I never fertilized because the soil was already so rich in composting organic matter. Best of all, no soil-borne diseases! This was an organic gardener's paradise.

Author Patricia Lanza uses plenty of real-life examples from her own gardens to illustrate the effectiveness of this technique. She explains in detail how lasagna gardening differs from traditional tilling and double digging, what the benefits are and which crops need to wait while the layers compost down and which can be put in right away. There is an alphabetical listing of ways to plant annuals and seeds in lasagna beds, a plethora of tips on maximizing your space and innovating ways to grow vertically if need be. There are also garden plans for flower borders and perennial beds grouped according to watering and sunshine needs.

Please don't be afraid to break with "tradition" - you could save not only your garden tool budget, but your back as well. And if the promise of all those fruits, veggies and flowers with less work and more pleasure isn't enough for you, then you must really love that rototiller!
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

213 of 233 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting idea, but not for everyone, June 25, 2001

By A Customer

I really like the concept of this book. The author has taken practices of no-dig gardening, mulching and sheet composting and combined them to come up with an innovative method for quickly creating a productive garden without the back-breaking work traditionally involved.

The first chapter of the book explains the lasagna gardening method -- which involves covering up the ground where you intend to plant with a layer of cardboard or wet newspaper to keep down weeds, then topping this with 1 1/2 to 2 feet of layered organic materials such as chopped leaves, compost, straw, grass clippings, etc. You can plant into this straight away, or cover the beds and wait for the materials to decompose. The lasagna gardening method is simple and really only takes 1 chapter to describe. The rest of the book offers good advice on growing vegetables, herbs, flowers, dealing with pests, and special tips and techniques for making your garden unique. This information is comprehensive and beginners will probably find it useful. But I already own a number of gardening books and didn't find a lot of new ideas here. I would suggest experienced gardeners borrow this book from the library first before deciding whether to buy it.

I do have some reservations about the lasagna gardening method. I live in the city and have recently taken on a large garden plot which is overgrown with weeds and brambles. I have decided against pursuing lasagna gardening, for the moment at least. I don't have very much compost, leaves or straw on hand, and because I don't own a car it would be difficult and impractical for me to transport the large quantities of organic materials needed.

I also strongly disagree with the author's recommendation to use peat moss when establishing garden beds -- from an environmental point of view I feel this is highly irresponsible. It appears from her descriptions that she uses bales and bales of peat herself -- 5 or 6 two-inch layers for every lasagna garden she makes. Peat is not a renewable resource and harvesting it for use by gardeners worldwide has a devastating effect on ancient peat bogs here in Britain. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has campaigned for the past 10 years against the use of peat in gardening because the destruction of peat bogs eliminates birds' habitats. Alternatives to peat are now widely available, and no one who cares about the future of the earth should be using peat in their garden.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun and easy!!!, May 26, 1999

By A Customer

I borrowed this book from a friend and fell in love with it! I have one on order. My family and I put in 2- 4 foot squares in less then 4 hrs. We even had it planted!! We all worked together and even my kids had fun doing this "work". They can't wait until I put in some more. I have been putting off, putting in a garden for 5 years now. I don't have a tiller, and our yard is nothing but rocks. It would have taken me weeks to get it ready. If you like gardening, but hate the work, this is the way to go!!!